Hispanic Rural Teachers Oral History Project.

The goal of this oral history project was to document the lives of Hispanic women who were devoted to educating children in rural New Mexico during the period surrounding statehood. The project was directed by Erlinda Gonzales-Berry. María Dolores Gonzales Velásquez was project assistant, and Tey Diana Rebolledo, was project associate. Funding and support came from the Center for Regional Studies and the Southwest Hispanic Research Institute at the University of New Mexico.

The interviews were conducted with ten women in their late seventies or eighties who became rural teachers early in their lives, and made teaching a life-long career. The researchers were interested in their subjects individual lives, as well as in broader social and cultural issues. Questions concerning why these women chose to cross the traditional gender and cultural boundaries from the private domestic domain into the public sector were discussed. How the women juggled the demands of career and family, and how were they viewed by their communities are explored in the interviews, as are their roles as "americanizers" of Hispanic and sometimes Native American students. Recurring motifs include poverty, supportive families, obstructive political structures, social discrimination, and community vitality and support.

From the guide to the Hispanic Rural Teachers Oral History Project, 1989-1997 (bulk 1992), (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)